


Unexpected Power

by DraconisWing



Category: Frostiron - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Crossover, FrostIron - Freeform, M/M, Serious story here, When worlds collide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2014-02-26
Packaged: 2017-11-21 08:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/595738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraconisWing/pseuds/DraconisWing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Battle of New York has ended; the Tesseract is gone from Earth, and Loki is once more imprisoned within Asgard. Peace reigns... But it does not last. Loki escapes, and the Tesseract is stolen... but is soon made very clear that a new enemy has taken an interest in the cube of power. With life itself hanging in the balance, unlikely alliances will have to be made... for unexpected powers dwell in Midgard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unwelcome news

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! What an honor it is to be posting at last in AO3... I hope you'll find my work fitting for these hallowed halls. X3  
> Anyways, I hope you all will enjoy this! This will be FrostIron, but it will have a distinct plot as well - it's not going to be focused entirely on their relationship. (But there will be plenty of their relationship. xD) And forward warning, I'm slow when it comes to setting up a story. If ever it seems slow, rest assured there will be plenty of action (eventually X3) And Harry and co. will show up in a few chapters.  
> Anyhoo, enough blathering by me! Enjoy!!

"Dummy, it is not going to catch fire. Put the hose down."

His first-born robot only wobbled slightly before again training the extinguisher on the uni-beam.

Tony sighed. " _Down,"_ He said, very slowly and clearly. Dummy appeared not to hear him. Throwing up his hands, he returned to the control panel. "Fine. Have it your way. That 'donate to a community college' threat is still in effect, you know. You blast it, and it's not on fire –" He drew his finger swiftly across his throat. The threat was empty – drunken college students were certainly never getting their dirty paws on _his_ machinery - but maybe it'd stave off another Dummy-induced extinguisher mess.

He closed off the last circuit with a flourish, eyed Dummy warningly, and activated the arc reactor. It immediately blazed with a brilliant icy light. It looked strangely out of place, though, glowing within the suit's chestpiece without him in it. He looked down, at his current – and soon-to-be-outdated – arc reactor. He was never one to deny his own genius, but it never failed to amaze him what he'd made; something that started as a replacement for a car battery was now powering a superhero's suit. Well, a super person's suit, anyway. The word 'hero' didn't really appeal or apply to Tony Stark.

Locking down the chestpiece, he turned to face the makeshift target. "Aim…" He muttered to himself, wondering idly whether his new additions would actually improve the power, or blow up in his face… literally. "And…"

A blast echoed through the room, but it was not the kind Tony was expecting. He sighed, leaving his unfired arc reactor alone and turning to face the blond alien now facing him from across the room. He opened his mouth to speak, but not before Dummy had given the slightly-smoking Thor a good dose of fire-dampening foam.

" _Back,_ Dummy," Tony said, waving him off, but he couldn't say he wasn't amused. It was enjoyable to see Dummy douse someone else for a change. Dummy retreated, rather reluctantly for a machine, with his hose still trained threateningly at Thor.

Thor stood in the middle of a slight singe mark on the floor, the Tesseract's case held tightly in his hand. Mjollnir was clenched in the other. Unlike the last time Tony had seen him, Thor seemed dressed for war – or at least, it looked like he was wearing armor underneath all the white foam.

Thor nodded gravely at Tony, always so formal. "Stark."

Tony waved a hand and bowed deeply. "Thor."

Choosing not to make a comment on that, Thor instead pointed Mjollnir at Dummy. "Is that your strongest defense against intruders?" He asked. Tony snorted and threw Thor a towel. "Hardly. If _those_ defenses were on, you'd be taking a sweet trip down to meet the pavement right about now." He crossed his arms and leaned against his workbench, feeling no need to mention that JARVIS already had Thor's biocode programmed into the security system. "What brings you here to Midgard? Thought you had enough to keep you occupied in Asgard for a few centuries."

Thor looked away, pacing toward the window. "Stark –"

"Loki escaped, got it. When did this happen?"

Thor whirled on Tony, automatically raising Mjollnir. "You know of this?"

Tony rolled his eyes. Why else would you beam here all strung-up and nervous? Either Jane dumped you or your crazy brother escaped imprisonment. Again." He shrugged. "Thor, this is _Loki._ We all knew he was going to escape the moment we locked him up. That's just what he _does."_

Thor slowly lowered Mjollnir, wringing the handle in his hands. "When he was brought back to Asgard… my brother was tried for his crimes. He was found guilty for both treason and murder. It took much from my father to revoke the traditional sentence." Thor trailed off, but there was no question that he meant death.

"He was placed in our strongest vault, under constant guard." Thor started pacing again, and Tony stepped hastily back when Mjollnir started to emit a few angry sparks. "Loki is not the only magician in the realm – Odin gathered many, and together they fashioned a pair of shackles to bind not only his hands, but his magic as well. We still do not know how he escaped."

Wonderful. So there was more magic they didn't know about, magic that apparently Odin himself couldn't stop. This was just getting better and better.

"Right." Tony pointed his screwdriver at the Tesseract. "Well, thanks for the warning. Maybe you should be heading back, though, before Loki scampers back to Earth."

Thor looked down at the glowing cube, apparently confused. "I do not understand you."

So maybe pointing wasn't clear enough. Tony jabbed at the Tesseract with the screwdriver this time. "Remember how much trouble Loki brewed to try to get that thing? Maybe it should head back upstairs. If you keep it around here, Loki's sure to find it eventually, and I _really_ don't want to have to rebuild New York again. You Asgardians are less breakable anyway."

Thor did something Tony did not expect – he laughed. "Stark, Loki cannot steal the Tesseract so long as it resides in Midgard."

Okay. This had gone too far without having some alcohol around to mediate the situation. After a scotch was safely in hand, he said, "And just what do you mean by that?"

"The Bifrost is destroyed, Stark. Loki cannot use magic. We do not know how he escaped his cell, but it was not by magical means. He cannot leave Asgard without the Tesseract. So long as it remains here, it is safe from Loki's grasp."

Tony couldn't help it; he beamed. Thor had actually used his head. And he'd used it for actual thinking this time, as opposed to a battering iron. But despite Thor's unusually sensible plan, Tony couldn't see it working. This was Loki 'bag of cats' Laufeyson. He could do what he wanted. Thor said he didn't escape by magical means, but then how had he escaped at all? And if he could escape an inescapable fortress… he could beam himself to earth somehow. The only question was when.

Tony turned back to his new arc reactor, internally upgrading its position from 'pet project' to 'priority'. With Loki on the loose, even worlds away, he'd feel better with a stronger suit.

Plus, he'd finally get to use his new gauntlets with it.

"Well, let me know how that goes," he told Thor, turning the arc reactor once more towards the target. "If you're not planning on jumping planets anytime soon, maybe you should hand it over to SHIELD for the time being." SHIELD and Tony didn't quite see eye to eye, and he had the distinct impression that Fury and himself were seeing different pictures of the world altogether. But despite that, he couldn't deny the fact that their engineering vault was probably the safest place for the cube. If Loki honestly couldn't use magic… even Tony couldn't see him worming into a vault of that magnitude without the help of his wormhole.

Thor didn't seem all that happy with it, either. "Do you think that is best?"

"I don't, but I hate the alternatives more." He'd considered right off housing the Tesseract in the Avenger's mansion – but considering it was already a target, what with all the Avengers coming and going randomly – it didn't seem like a great idea to add another prize to the bounty. But more than that… the Tesseract was volatile, temperamental… magical. Not solid and dependable like machinery, not something that he understood. And as intelligent as he was, he doubted he ever would fully understand it. But much more than that, the battle of New York had given him a slightly clearer view of the fragility of life – one mistaken experiment with the Tesseract and _boom –_ bye bye, Earth. He knew just how easily that could happen. Or what if Hulk went wacko and thrashed through all the protections around it, destroying both the cube and life itself?

Nope, SHIELD would have to do.

"As you say." Thor started to leave, but turned as the last second. "Shall I give them your regards?"

There were no words to fit his regards. Tony's answer was a resounding explosion as he fired the arc reactor's uni-beam. Thor smirked as he stepped to the door and turned the Tesseract, disappearing in an eerie blue flash. _Off to SHIELD_ , Tony thought as he wiped foam off his arms and reset the target, _Probably beaming right into some impenetrable fort_. The security guard's faces would be priceless, he was sure; those who didn't suffer from the heart attacks, that is. He briefly considered asking JARVIS to hack into SHIELD's mainframe and pilfer the security video feed – but Fury's blood pressure was high enough for now. He'd have his fun another time, when Thor and the Tesseract weren't heaped on Fury's plate.

"Reset, Dummy," He called against his better judgment, and fired the beam again.


	2. Vicious but Efficient

For two weeks, no one heard a peep from the God of Mischief. That was just fine with everyone concerned, though Tony did wonder what the crazy guy was up to. But with no new information and plenty of things to do, trying to understand Loki Laufeyson was moved to the backburner. Tony finished his new arc reactor, installed it (this time without Pepper nearly killing him) and was working on improving the armor. He still remembered Thor wreaking havoc on his suit with his bare hands… it wasn't exactly fun trying to get out of the suit that night. He was trying to find a way so that next time he and Thor got in a spat, his suit wouldn't get crushed like it was made of tin foil.

But while Tony was secluded in his workshop, the other Avengers slowly began filtering back to Avengers HQ. The Headquarters used to be at a SHIELD base, but working under someone, especially someone like Fury, just wasn't Tony's style. Perhaps without Fury's express permission, Tony outfitted one of his spare mansions into a high-tech, well guarded headquarters designed specifically with the Avengers in mind. Mainly that just meant separate rooms, but he did make sure the walls were reinforced with pretty much everything he had; just in case Hulk wanted to have some fun around the house. It would be decidedly less fun if everything collapsed.

Eventually all of the team members cottoned on, and began outfitting their individual wings to make it theirs… sort of. Widow's was always locked, from the moment she moved in. Clint seemed to enjoy creeping around in the air vents more than he liked his room. Banner promptly made his into a lab (which Tony often enjoyed visiting) And the Captain furnished his like… well, an old fashioned house. The most technologically advanced item he had in his room was a radio. Tony had tried, many times, to convince him to use a computer, or hell, just a smartphone, but to no avail. But Tony would corrupt him with 21st century gadgets eventually.

And so that's where he was, eating a bagel under the Captain's watchful eye, when JARVIS spoke. Sir, Thor has entered the mansion –

Anything else he was saying became irrelevant, for the god in question had just burst through the door. Mjolnir was being brandished about in one hand, his expression panicked. Sparks leapt from his hammer as he quickly crossed the room to them. This wasn't good.

"This has to be a new record," Tony said thickly, his mouth bulging with bagel. "Two weeks to not only get off Asgard, but rip off SHIELD as well. Amazing."

Thor stared at Tony for one moment, then charged him. Tony took an involuntary step back, and Thor's expression was so enraged that Steve quickly stepped between them. Thor impatiently shoved the Captain out of his way, clearly keen on speaking his mind.

"This is not a jest, Stark!" Thor shouted, raising Mjolnir menacingly. "My brother is now in sole possession of the Tesseract! If he wields it as I fear he will, the Ragnarok will finally be upon us, and all the realms shall meet their ends. Is that what you want, Stark?"

Tony raised his hands in a non-threatening fashion, swallowing noisily. "Simmer down, big guy," He said in a soothing tone. "No one wants that." Thor did not back down, his eyes blazing. Tony was not entirely sure he did not intend to strike him down – his brother's escape appeared to have broken something in Thor. What exactly was broken, Tony didn't know, but it was just plain scary to be in the demigod's glare.

He really wished he had his suit.

"No one wants that, Thor," Steve seconded. Thor's head snapped around, finally freeing Tony from the fiery stare. Whew. He was going to have to make a valiant effort to get the wisecracks at a minimum for awhile; failure might end with getting smashed and electrified by an angry god.

"When did this happen, Thor?" Steve continued in a calm tone. "What do you know about it? Tell us everything."

"I know little that will be of use," Thor said, finally lowering Mjolnir. "Jane… Jane had finally returned from her place of safety. She wished to see Eric Selvig – I accompanied her to the SHIELD base." He broke off as Steve convulsively gripped the table, scattering wooden splinters upon the ground.

"Peace, friend," Thor reassured him. "Selvig was not taken."

Once the Captain had calmed a little, Thor continued. "The heavens smiled upon us – we were not in the room when Loki arrived. We saw and heard nothing of it until he was gone. The Tesseract was discovered to be missing, every guard and scientist slain. Save for the bodies, there was no evidence he had ever been there. But the Tesseract is gone."

Even Tony could not think of a single thing to say. The idea that Loki was again loose and powerful, so soon after the battle, was a terrible thought to bear. It made Tony feel almost hollow, filled with nothing but a deepening sense of dread.

"Well," Steve finally said, crossing his arms, "I think it's time to assemble the team."

Fury, for unknown reasons, had not yet contacted the other Avengers. He didn't seem in a very big hurry, either. Whatever Fury's reasons for waiting, though, Tony didn't share them. He quickly called everyone, telling them to meet at the mansion as soon as possible. Everyone agreed, but he hadn't been able to reach Banner. Natasha agreed to search for him, and that would have to do for the moment. He slapped on one of his tracker bracelets, just in case… and his preparing was done. While Steve stood stoic and Thor paced, Tony settled down on the couch with a glass. He was in the middle of throwing down his second scotch when Fury finally decided to phone in and spread the news.

"Already called everyone, boss," Tony said before Fury could speak, adjusting the telescreen so both Thor and Steve could see Fury as well.

Fury did not look pleased. "And what exactly did you tell them?"

"That Loki was Loki, the Tesseract's gone, and they needed to get here ASAP," Steve recited quickly.

"Hmph." Tony expected him to rant and rage, but he settled with looking disapproving. Taking advantage of his lackluster reaction, he asked, "Why the wait? Did you want to give Loki a head start, or what?"

"The wait, Stark, was for us trying to get everything back online," Fury snapped. "Whatever Loki was up to, he messed with our security systems. And our computer systems. Anything electrical that was connected with the Tesseract's vault went haywire. And that includes any means of contacting the lot of you."

Tony turned slowly around to stare at Thor, eyebrows raised. "No mention of that in your rundown, Thor."

The god shrugged. "I did not notice." He seemed unconcerned about whatever power surge Loki caused. Then again, his opinion on electrical objects in general was condescending at best, and he seemed to deem most of them quite beneath him. So yeah, he wouldn't notice when half the SHIELD computers started going crazy. He probably didn't see a difference.

"Anyway," Fury said, reclaiming their attention, "We're working to get it back online and salvage what we can from the security tapes. Where did you tell everyone to meet?"

"Here," Tony said promptly. He leaned forward, all ready to dish out a counterargument when Fury inevitably disagreed, but the head of SHIELD merely bowed his head. "Good. We don't know how compromised this base is yet, and won't know for some time. Your…. 'mansion' is, as of yet, off the map. Have them meet and stay there. Until then…"

"Sir!"

Agent Maria Hill strode into the camera's range, looking very disturbed. This, more than anything, unnerved Tony. From what he knew of her, she had the constitution and fortitude of a boulder. She never showed anything so trivial as fear in her expression, much less any other emotion. To have her so clearly shaken was not a good sign.

Maria glanced once towards the screen – Steve waved – then turned back to Fury. "Sir, the doctors examined the bodies from the vault. They're…" She shook her head. "Sir, you need to see this."

Fury nodded and immediately began following her out. "I'll be in touch," Fury said over his shoulder, then the screen went black.

Tony stared at the blank screen for a moment, then drained his glass, hardly feeling the burn of the alcohol as he considered the implications of the little Fury had said. His machinery was crafted with more finesse than SHIELD's, but…

"JARVIS?" He called, getting up from the couch.

"Sir?" His AI immediately answered. He was reminded forcibly of a butler, and was about to say so, but curbed himself just in time. JARVIS never liked that particular comparison.

Huh, Tony thought, feeling another splash of self-appreciation of his genius. My AI is actually more sensitive than the average human. He'd made a robot that could get miffed at being called a servant. That was fun to think about.

But there were more important things to do right now. "JARVIS, back up all important files and blueprints to the home database. Anything not strictly necessary to run this place? Shove it over there too. Make sure that if he hacks us, all he'll get is some circuits to run the lights and the show scheduling for DIRECTV."

"Of course, sir," JARVIS said. "Shall I leave the refrigerator running?"

Tony grinned. And he had a sense of humor. "Go ahead," he sighed with a wave of his hand.

"So what now?" Steve asked.

"Well, without Banner, not much I can do so far as Tesseract tracking. JARVIS is pulling all that stuff right now, but Banner's tech is portable. And besides, I'd rather waste time now than hand all our research over to Loki on a silver platter." It wasn't that he didn't want to work on it – quite the opposite. He really wanted to dig elbow-deep into his workshop and just start throwing everything he had about gamma radiation and try to find the Tesseract himself. But if Loki was now capable enough to shut down the entire SHIELD base, he would be able to steal from his files. Tony was sure of that.

With a sigh, he strode over to one of the many computers and switched it on. It was rather depressing to watch the folders wink empty one by one, leaving nothing but names behind. "Take the folders too, JARVIS," He added as an afterthought, but somehow it was worse when those disappeared as well, leaving nothing but an empty desktop on the screen. How depressing.

Wallowing on the absence of his precious technology would not help anything – even with that knowledge, he was dangerously close to doing so anyway. But with Steve in the room, he probably wouldn't get away with any more alcohol as a distraction. With a sigh, he grabbed a roll of paper and sat down at the kitchen table. There was nothing stopping him from making physical blueprints, tedious though they could be. Still, it was a project, and an important one at that. He forgot the existence of Steve and Thor in the room as he sat down with a long sheet of paper, blocking everything from the world except for the sketch of a new gamma ray detector.

It took two days, but finally, everyone was present at the Avenger's mansion. Banner wasn't actually that hard to find – he'd been in Spain just like he'd said. Natasha had found him in less than an hour. It just took much longer for the two to retrace their steps back to the mansion. Bruce seemed surprised at the less-than-happy reaction he received upon entering the house. He didn't seem to find his lack of communication worth any fuss.

"Then why didn't you pick up the phone?" Steve asked Bruce as they all took a seat at the conference table, with the telescreen at the head – a stand-in for Fury, who was still at the wrecked SHIELD base.

Bruce, apparently, had been in the middle of a Spanish bog, searching for herbs that were rumored to have restorative properties – though he knew better now than to try to get rid of the 'other guy', he still wanted a modicum of control over his angry alter ego. And bogs, apparently, didn't get the greatest cell service.

"My phone didn't ring, guys," He said as they all converged upon the doctor, asking what he'd been up to and what he knew. Evidently, Clint had gotten it in his head that Bruce hadn't called because he had super-secret information that couldn't be shared via telephone. Tony hadn't the faintest clue where the quirky archer had come up with that one.

Banner shoved away his eager questioners to set up a tiny screen on the table in front of him – a direct feed to the Gamma Ray satellite, currently trying to track the Tesseract as they had before. So far, all it had returned was a resounding negative.

"Would you all please settle down and shut up?"

Fury had joined the meeting, and his flaring temper seemed to be on a shorter leash than usual. Everyone quieted at once. Tony longed to speak out just then, just because he could, but the need for new information stopped him. Fury knew more – that much was clear.

"So. We managed to salvage what we could of the security footage."

Fury's visage blinked and disappeared, replaced by an image of the Tesseract vault. Tony leaned forward, absorbed, as the video began to play.

The first minute was peaceful and crystal-clear. Guards stood at their posts, the scientists ran their experiments. Then, with no warning, a cloaked figure appeared in their midst. Immediately, the footage started to ripple, as though they were viewing the scene through thick heat waves. The figure in black raised something small and thin – a modified scepter? – and fired at the personnel, smiting them with green light. Whatever it was, it was effective – within a minute, Tony had witnessed the murder of two dozen personnel. The only living being left was the cloaked figure. It raised the thin stick high, and the footage grew more corrupted, rippling and shivering so much it was almost impossible to make out. Tony could just barely see the Tesseract rise free of its bindings, then disappear. The figure in black disappeared as well, and all was still.

Two minutes to kill everyone and steal the Tesseract, with no one the wiser. Horrifying, yes, impressive – but something seemed off to Tony. If there was one thing that he knew about Loki, it was that he cared about the attention. Gloating, showing off. Everything he destroyed, he destroyed in some spectacular, dramatic manner. He wasn't one to be subtle. He remembered only too clearly the whole 'eyeball' incident – didn't that show that he had a flair for the dramatic?

If that cloaked figure was Loki, he'd certainly changed… which obviously was not out of the question. But still… he swallowed his doubts and looked around the table. Their expressions ranged from shocked to horrified.

Fury appeared back on the screen. "Loki isn't taking any chances this time," He said heavily.

Tony continued to frown at the screen, though it looked like he was frowning at Fury now. "What was the nature of the corruption?" He finally asked. "What it a virus, a hack, or some sort of magical crap?"

"Magical," Fury said. "Or at least, we think it is. When Loki used Barton to shut us down before, it was a planned virus. This was just… wild, with no clear target. We're still not sure what the target was."

It was unlike Fury to answer questions so directly – Tony guessed that their noble leader was more shaken than his stony expression let on.

Natasha spoke up for the first time. "The bodies," She said. "What was so unusual about the dead?" She said this as calmly as though she was discussing the weather. Nothing was new about death for Natasha.

"They shouldn't have been dead, that's what's unusual," Fury said. "They were all examined, and there was nothing wrong with them except for the fact that they were dead!" He slammed his fist down upon an unseen table, but they could all hear the thud.

"Whoa." Tony threw his hands up. "Loki –" Or whoever it was, he added mentally, "Fried them with the laser light thing. We all saw it happen."

"The bodies showed no signs of any attack," Fury retorted. "No marks, no poison, no nothing. But they were dead."

Silence reigned in the conference room. Scepters and alien armies were all very well, but the looks of this green light was somehow far more frightening.

"That should not be possible," Thor said slowly, appearing shell-shocked. "There is no magic upon Asgard with such a power. Even the Jotuns do not claim such a skill."

"Would you like to tell that to them?" Fury snapped. "It's not possible. It still happened. Impossible is not a word I believe in."

They continued to bicker and speculate, but Tony had checked out of the conversation, busy reviewing every possible technical trick he knew that could somehow protect against the deadly green light. So far, he was coming up empty. He was only brought back to Earth when an incessant beeping echoed throughout the room, originating from the computer in front of Bruce.

"I've got a lock on the Cube," He gasped, frantically scrolling through the information. "Just one burst… couldn't be anything else." He looked up at the suddenly frozen team. "What are you waiting for?" He nearly shouted. "Get down to the hangar! I'll program the coordinates on the way!" And he was out the door. The rest hesitated.

"Just one burst?" Steve muttered. "Could be a trap. Why wouldn't we have detected anything before or after?

"Maybe he accidentally blew himself up," Clint offered hopefully.

Tony was uncharacteristically quiet. A trap was likely, but it also seemed kind of stupid. Loki had stayed undercover for two days, that was all. That didn't seem like a long enough time to do anything significant or worthwhile with the Tesseract, or even enough time to set up a viable trap. Releasing the energy was a good way to draw them in, but the Avengers wouldn't go down easy. Why else would he broadcast his location, then? Maybe it was a mistake after all.

"Well, it won't hurt to check," Tony said, getting up from his chair, though of course he knew no such thing. Thor, Steve, and Natasha stood as well, but Clint stayed put, a petulant frown on his face. "I've had more than enough of his mind tricks," He said stoutly. "I'm worth more dead and sane than alive and under his control."

Fury thought about his statement before finally saying, "That's my decision to make, Barton." Barton's frowned deepened, and Tony had a feeling he would voluntarily glue himself to the chair if it meant he didn't have to go.

"Natasha, you're to stay." Natasha immediately slid back into her chair, her expression blank. Tony had no idea whether she was upset or pleased with her designation. Fury then sighed and said, "Barton, stay as well." Clint turned away from the telescreen and grinned.

"The rest of you – fill me in on the way."

And Fury disappeared from the screen.

"Well, team," Tony said, clapping his hands together, "We've got a god to destroy. Let's go annoy Bruce!"

That earned him one strained chuckle from Steve, then the group broke apart. Tony headed up to his floor of the mansion, stepping solidly onto the cool metallic circle in the middle of his room. He stripped to his bodysuit and was about to activate the auto-assemble… until he remembered JARVIS had removed all of that. Sighing, he told JARVIS to activate the suit itself instead. JARVIS did, and he tried not to cringe as huge chunk of metal hurtled toward him, slowing just enough to make the application process extremely uncomfortable as opposed to painful. But then the suit was on and he was ready. He opened the window and flew down to the hanger to find everyone else had suited up as well. Reindeer Games better be ready for this, Tony thought as the jet took off. Because we definitely are.


	3. Magic doesn't fight fair

Bruce, as it turned out, had learned to fly at some point. After a very unsteady takeoff, Tony was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the flight was… until he realized the jet was on autopilot.

Tony resisted the urge to laugh as he looked around the jet. How strange they all looked – him in his suit, Thor in his shiny leathery Asgardian getup, and the Captain all decked out in stars and spangle. They looked like they were heading to a circus, not to fight villains. Why did being a superhero dictate a ridiculous suit? Only Bruce looked normal, though he probably would be mistaken for a crew member in this crowd. No wonder Loki didn't take any of them seriously.

"We're getting close, guys," Bruce called after a very long period of awkward silence. They all nodded without breaking the quiet. No one seemed to know what to say to each other, but the edge in Banner's voice caught Tony's attention. He used the handy zoom feature in his HUD to check to make sure Bruce was wearing the special pants Tony had crafted for him. He was curious whether Bruce had planned ahead in case the other guy wanted to make a special guest appearance. To his relief, Bruce was wearing the thick reinforced weave. It didn't make any real difference, of course, but now if the Hulk showed up, his oversized junk wouldn't be hanging out for all to see. No one needed to be scarred by that sight again.

More awkward silence. Tony occupied himself by running diagnostics on his suit, making sure that everything was running in tip-top shape. If he was going to get it a shot in on Loki, he needed to be prepared to shoot at a second's notice – because a second would be all he'd probably get.

Finally, someone spoke out. "Is our cloak on?" Steve asked as Bruce began a shallow descent. Bruce's threw him a scathing look before turning back to the viewscreen. "No, we're heading into Loki's lair nice and visible. More fun that way." It took a second before Steve realized he was joking.

As they broke through the cloud layer, Banner activated the jet's cameras so everyone could see what was going on below. As Tony took in the sight, he felt a thin flutter of hope. Maybe Clint was right after all – for the gaping crater below did not look like it was created on purpose. It had probably once been a big building, but something – and Tony had a very shrewd guess as to what – had reduced it to cinders. But where were the people? Tony wondered. The fire trucks, the screaming citizens? He looked around again, but there was no sign anyone had even noticed. But then he realized, as Bruce banked and started to climb upwards again, that they were quite literally in the middle of nowhere. There was a small town some at the edge of the camera's views that had probably seen the smoke, but there was no way they could have arrived yet. The Avengers, however, had arrived very quickly. Half an hour from the base, and they had already arrived. That made Tony nervous. He mentally started going through his mansions, wondering whether he could make one into another base. You could never have too many high-tech lairs, it was true, but that didn't make it any better that Loki had set up shop a jet's-flight away. What was this crazed god's play?

After adjusting his flight pattern, Bruce descended again, angling so they'd all get a better view of the crater once the clouds cleared. A low hum buzzed throughout the aircraft as Bruce powered up the guns. Tony activated his gauntlet's beams, while Thor fidgeted with Mjolnir and the Captain fussed with his shield. Bruce didn't need to do anything except keep himself well in control – if he decided to become the beast, he tended to have some control over the other guy. But if the Hulk decided he wanted to come out and play? That's when things got smashy. Hopefully, though, Loki would be around to distract him. Hulk really did seem to like pulverizing the god.

Before Bruce got them through the cloud layer, Thor appeared at Bruce's elbow. "If you see my brother when we approach, do not shoot," Thor commanded. Cutting off all protests, he continued, "A blast from your weaponry will do nothing but alert him to our presence," Thor said. "As advanced as you are, it will take more than that to kill Loki."

Tony stood up, repulsors blazing. "We've got more," He said. He went over and pulled Thor away from Bruce. "Thor, I designed these weapons myself. It packs enough to send a god flying. When he's nice and stunned, we swoop in and grab him. Easy."

Thor seemed unsure, but he took a step toward the back of the jet. Steve was already waiting there, a parachute strapped to his back.

"We're all on the same team, remember guys?" Steve said with a brave attempt at humor. Tony smiled beneath his mask as he recalled the memorable fight in the forest. He had learned one thing that day – don't mess with Grampa Steve. He vividly remembered feeling like a misbehaving kid – aiming all his guns at Thor while Thor brandished his hammer. Ignoring Steve's pleas, he was all prepared to get back into the fight… but instead he was whacked in the face by Steve's shield, a not-too-subtle reminder to behave. Ah, good times.

"Though it saddens me still to fight against my brother, I fight alongside you, Captain. As well as you, Man of Iron," He said with a regal nod in Tony's direction.

Tony curtseyed in response. "As I fight alongside you both," Tony said in a lofty impression of Thor's formality. Thor looked as unfazed as ever, but Steve seemed amused, and also a little relieved. Tony doubted it was just his curtseying skills that had put Steve's mind at ease – did he really think Thor was going to turn on them, fight them instead of his maniacal brother? Thor was many things, but he really hoped Steve wasn't so naïve to believe that. Thor was a golden retriever, both in loyalty and intellectual capacity. He was on their side.

"Cut the crap, guys," Bruce said. "We're going in."

Tony watched as the clouds left the jet again, leaving the cameras clear. He could see the crater better now, see the ashes still floating in the air, the flames flickering at the edges of the crater. Warped pieces of metal littered the inside of the pit, the sad remains of a solid foundation. And, staggering among the twisted spires, was a black-haired figure.

Everybody froze in shock. Even Tony was surprised. Why the hell was Loki just wandering around in the open, unprotected and staggering like a drunkard? "He did come," Thor whispered under his breath. "I cannot believe it."

Tony couldn't believe it either, but for a different reason than Thor. He'd always believed that Loki would find a way off Asgard, but this just didn't seem right.

"Line up, guys," Bruce said as he carefully centered the god within the crosshairs. Tony studied the figure, feeling yet another shock as he noticed something. Was Loki… wearing a skirt?

"Wait!" Tony shouted. Bruce whirled in his chair, a slightly alarming glint in his eyes. "What?"

"That's not Loki!" Tony said tersely, keeping it down to the essentials. Everybody stared. Whatever they were expecting, that wasn't it.

"And just what makes you think that?" Bruce spat through his teeth.

Tony pointed at the viewscreen. "Does Loki seem like the type to wear dresses on his day off?"

They all looked again, and this time they caught it – the edge of a black dress, billowing in the breeze. Either this was a very clever disguise, or this was not the villain they were looking for.

Bruce calmed down a bit and rechecked his coordinates. "This is exactly where the Tesseract was last," He muttered to himself. "What, do you think she's just some bystander? Caught in the crossfire?"

"Could be – or she could be in cahoots with Loki. He doesn't have to be working alone." Ah, good old Steve, breathing life back into words like 'cahoots'.

Bruce slowly started the descent again, seeking a better look at the woman, whoever she was. As they got closer, they could see that she was very angular, all lines and points, with heavily-lidded eyes. Now that they could see detail, they could see that her dress was just plain crazy, outdone only by her frizzy, crazier hairdo. Black hair was flying everywhere around this woman.

Bruce crept closer, placing his trust in the cloaking device and silenced engines. Everything seemed fine – until he crossed over the edge of the crater. Though they were several thousand feet away, the woman's head snapped up, as though she had been called. Tony watched, unsure of what to make of her reaction.

And the cockpit exploded.

Tony let out a most unmanly scream as tumbled senselessly in the air – and then he remembered he could fly. Firing his repulsor beams, he righted himself, searching for the Steve and Bruce. Thor could fly, but those two couldn't.

He found Steve first, already deploying his parachute. Good. He cast about for Thor, but the blonde god was nowhere to be seen. That was fine… but then he caught sight of the good doctor. Bruce was screaming madly, tumbling through the air with no protection but one. The hulk would save him, no doubt about it, but would probably end up killing everyone else. Apparently it was up to Tony to make sure that wasn't necessary.

Tony flew at full speed, catching Banner with plenty of time to spare. But Bruce continued to convulse even after Tony had caught him, trying to keep the monster contained. And now Tony had no use of his hand repulsors, which made steering quite difficult. He landed ungracefully by the wreckage of the plane, Banner falling the moment he touched ground. Thor landed beside them seconds later, holding a piece of what looked like Steve's parachute. "He required assistance," Thor said before Tony could ask.

Now that he was on solid ground, Tony had just enough time to think, What the hell blasted us out of the sky?

"Stark!"

Tony looked up at Thor, who was staring at Bruce. Bruce was on the ground, every muscle taut, fists clenched and pressed against the ashy ground. Tony quickly kneeled, laying a metal hand upon his shoulder. This was not good. "Hey, doc? Bruce, we're fine, we're fine. No need to unleash the big guy."

But his words could have been in Latin for all the good they did – when Bruce opened his mouth, all that came out was an inhuman growl. He staggered to his feet, stumbling away from both Tony and Thor. Bruce began to run, fighting visibly to restrain the Hulk. "Dudes!" Tony heard him shout as he ran. "You're on your own!" He jumped over what looked to be a chair from the cockpit, continuing to run until he was out of sight.

"Why is he running from us?" Thor asked, staring after Bruce. "We will soon be needing his strength. Shall I retrieve him?"

"You won't want him," Tony replied. "Did Bruce really look calm and controlled to you? If you brought him back now, Hulk would be just as likely to smash you as the woman or anyone else. We'll have to deal without him."

"I see," Thor said slowly, though he clearly didn't. Whatever. There were more important things to deal with. "Where's Steve?" Even though Thor said he had helped, the Captain had yet to appear.

Thor turned and pointed to one of the less-charred trees surrounding the crater. "There. I found him trapped within this cloth –" He held up the piece of parachute again. "After freeing him from it, I was going to bring him down, but he requested to stay. For the 'element of surprise', I believe he said."

"Great," Tony muttered. No Hulk, a Captain up a tree, and a clueless god up against someone who definitely wanted them dead. Loki or no Loki, they needed to know what they were up against. Leaving Thor by the wreckage of the plane, he took to the air, gaining altitude until he could see into the crater. He thought he saw a flicker in his vision, a hint of red – and he was blasted out of the sky. He landed hard, skidding, roughing the metal in the back of the suit. But the moment momentum was on his side again, he took back to the air. Whatever he'd been hit with hadn't done any damage to the workings of the suit itself, or so JARVIS said – though the paint would need some touching up. But the woman definitely wasn't just an innocent bystander. "JARVIS, turn that target to red, will you?" The blue of possible civilian immediately changed to red on his viewscreen, marking the woman as an enemy. He slowly gained altitude, waiting for the opportune moment. The moment he cleared the crater, the target locked, and he started throwing every weapon he had at the woman. She cackled evilly, dancing about, deflecting missiles and repulors alike with her scepter – which really looked like nothing but a stick of wood. Whatever it was, though, it was effective.

"I could use some help here!" He shouted over his shoulder, ducking as a jet of green light arched over him. So she could use the green laser of death too. Spectacular.

The day grew perceptively darker, and thunder began to rumble in the sky. Tony gained one step on her when she risked a glance upwards, but was forced backwards again by yet another jet of green light. He fired another ineffective missile at her, trying to analyze how she deflected it. There was no physical explanation for how she was still alive… which of course explained it immediately. Magic.

Lightning streaked across the now-stormy sky, and Thor flew down under the cover of the jagged fork of light. Tony fired several repulsor blasts at the woman, just trying to distract her. It worked somewhat – Thor was able to swing his hammer at her, lightning crackling mightily. But the woman dodged just in time. "You'll have to get up earlier if you want to beat me, sweetie!" Tony heard the woman squeal, her voice high and insane. And then it was close combat between the two, and Tony was not confident Thor would be the last one standing.

Tony aimed with one of his few remaining missiles. The missiles, at least, wouldn't do much to Thor if he got hit. He would save his repulsor blasts for when Thor wasn't so close. But before he could shoot, gunfire rained down, and the woman shrieked again – this time with pain. A bullet had somehow gotten though her defenses, burying itself in her arm. Thor took a swing at her, but instead ended up ducking more green light. The woman's aim seemed as impeccable as ever, so Thor took advantage of her injury, not to fight her, but to escape back to the sky. He landed moments later beside Tony, just as the earth rocked beneath their feet. Apparently the woman had tired of her green lasers, and was now firing some sort of explosion from her power stick, knocking both Thor and Tony to the ground.

"Who is this crazy bitch?!" Tony demanded, parrying every blow he could and trying to distract her enough so Thor could get a shot in. As Steve had shown, if she was distracted, her magical shield wasn't so effective. But no matter how much energy they threw at her, she always managed to deflect it – or worse, bounce it back at them. Tony ducked yet another of his own repulsor blasts, unable to gain so much of an inch on the manic woman. Steve was still holed up in his tree, ready to rain her with bullets again, but so far there hadn't been another opening. Then JARVIS informed him of a depletion in his weapons storage – all of them. He couldn't afford to be picky when deflecting her blasts, but it was costing him.

Tony felt trapped. He couldn't move farther away without abandoning Thor, couldn't take to the air without getting blasted from the sky. Every attempt at subterfuge had ended with missing death by inches. The green light was too powerful to risk getting hit by – he still vividly remembered the deaths of the scientists, how instantaneous it was. His suit might help soften the blow… but then again, it might do nothing at all. He wasn't going to risk it by getting in the way of her death ray. Her weapons seemed never-ending, but Tony knew of one way out of the fight. When the woman had been distracted by both Thor at close range and Tony from afar, her shield had not blocked Steve's shots. All they had to do was recreate that. They just had to get one more opening.

A mad cackle echoed from the crater, where he knew the woman must be behind all the debris and light. The red target on the screen danced and wavered as JARVIS tried to get a lock on her. Whatever magic she was using was interfering with his sensors – she never seemed to be where she should be. He'd thought she was more or less in the middle of the smoke and debris, but then he saw a green light fly out, much closer than it should have been. Thor dodged, but couldn't get out of the way in time. The bolt disappeared within his shoulder, and the thunder god crumpled to the ground.

The woman gave a high shriek of triumph. "No!" Steve cried from wherever he was hidden – Steve missed a golden opportunity and was shot at instead. Tony heard the resounding thunk as the laser deflected off his shield. Tony deflected whatever the woman threw at him without attacking back, every second feeling like hours as JARVIS checked for vital signs. Thor was a god, he reminded himself. As evidenced by Loki, gods did not go down easy. Thor just couldn't be dead… right?

The wait seemed to go on forever, and his lapse in concentration nearly cost him his own life, but then JARVIS found a heartbeat. Faint, worryingly slow, but there. He was unconscious but alive.

Then Steve flashed in his peripheral vision, heading for Thor. "He's fine!" Tony hissed as quietly as he could, yanking him back as more deadly green light flashed across his path. Then, louder, for the woman's sake, he said, "There's nothing you can do for him now!" There would be no point in protecting a supposedly dead body, and Tony didn't want to risk arousing the woman's suspicions and have her blow Thor up. Thor was alive, but he certainly looked dead. That would have to do for now.

Steve promptly covered them both with his shield when the woman sent some explosive thing after them. It did no damage to the shield but left Tony's ears ringing. "Now that I'm here…" Steve said, peering in at the dust cloud obscuring the woman, "Tony, on my word, throw everything you have at her, okay?"

Tony grunted. "I don't have much left."

"Doesn't matter. Just do it… now!"

This was not the time to question. Hoping very much that Steve's plan was sound, he threw everything at her, missiles, bullets, repulsor blasts, even his uni-beam. It all bounced back. Then, in the middle of the barrage, Steve threw his shield into the fray. They both heard a solid collision, and the shield didn't bounce back.

Grabbing Steve, Tony flew into the crater, not willing to lose any advantage. The woman was lying several yards away, knocked senseless by Steve's shield. Tony shot at her, but she deflected it once again. "I have failed you, master!" She shouted to the sky as she got to her feet. Tony ran forward to grab her, but she twisted away from him… and disappeared. Nothing left but some smoke and an unconscious thunder god to show she'd ever been there.

Steve and Tony both waited for several tense minutes, but the woman did not return. Slowly, Steve retreated, clambering up the side of the pit to check on Thor. Tony left him to it and examined the crater. Gamma radiation was everywhere, courtesy of the Tesseract. But there were also pieces of metal that were foreign, glinting strangely when he picked it up. There were several such pieces scattered around, along with – weirdly – a dead snake. It was charred almost past recognition, but there was no question it was the woman's, or at least someone's pet – the thing was nearly 20 feet long. There was no way that was living under the building unnoticed.

"Tony! Get up here!"

That was Steve, of course. Abandoning his search, he flew over to where Steve was crouched by Thor. "He's not waking up," He said. A cold knot formed in Tony's stomach as he kneeled beside Thor and gave him a cursory glance. He was no medic, but even he could tell his breathing was way too shallow to be healthy, and that his skin really shouldn't be that shade of gray. He stood up. "JARVIS, get Fury on the line."

Nothing but static. Stupid effing magic. He took to the air and landed a few yards away. Suddenly Fury was in his headset, crystal clear. The magic apparently had a boundary – probably how the woman had found them and shot them down in the first place. They'd crossed some taboo magic boundary and revealed themselves… somehow. He tried to force all thoughts of magic and voodoo out of his head. It only promised to make his growing headache worse.

"Stark, what happened?" Fury demanded immediately.

Tony shook his head, feeling suddenly very tired. "I'll explain everything later. Send Natasha or somebody with a jet to pick us up. Steve, Thor and me. Hulk ran wild, don't know where."

Fury only frowned. "Explain."

"We got blasted out of the air by some maniac. Whoever she was, she wasn't Loki." Tony said, not in the mood for wisecracks. He just wanted to get back to some relatively safe place where he could mull over everything without worrying about having his head blasted off. There had to be a defense against magic. Technology could do amazing things… so why couldn't it mess with magic the way magic messed with electricity?

And, though he did not say it out loud, he just wanted to know that Thor was going to be all right.

"And?" Fury pressed.

"And, we fought, she escaped. And… Thor was hit. By the green light."

Silence from the other end. "He's still alive," Tony said wearily. "But unconscious."

Fury said nothing for a long while. Finally, he said, "I'll send a jet," and disconnected.

"How rude," Tony muttered to himself. But with the promise of a ride in a half an hour, Tony went to stand beside Steve and unconscious Thor, counting down the seconds until the plane arrived. There was a lot of research to be done, projects to do. It was high time for magic users to meet the true mechanical genius of Tony Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note about the canon - Avengers is pretty much canon, minor changes will be mentioned as they come. But for Harry Potter... not quite canon. I'm messing with some things. XP Timeline is after the 6th book, maybe around the middle of the 7th. SPOILERS for those who haven't read the Deathly Hallows. Three horcruxes still remain - Hufflepuff's cup, the tiara, and Nagini. And, of course, Harry himself. The battle of hogwarts has not happened (and won't happen like in the book), Voldy and company are still alive. Hedwig is as well, just because I love Hedwig. I'll try to keep it canon-ish, but there are going to be some changes so that the Avengers can fit in. Hope this sounds okay to you guys ^^;


	4. Sleeping like the Dead

Fury didn't seem to be taking any chances – the jet that finally arrived was not piloted by Clint and Natasha, but two random SHIELD members. Tony was surprisingly upset by that – he would have preferred people he knew he could trust in a fight. The SHIELD members were polite and didn't gawk too much, but that was about it. Sure, they were probably master assassins and such, but Tony just wasn't in the mood.

The man went to scour the crater for any additional clues while the woman came to help with Thor. Moving Thor, though, wasn't the hard part – it was his mighty hammer that presented a challenge. Tony had heard quite a detailed account from Bruce about that hammer – if the Hulk couldn't move it, no one could. It was resting in the palm of Thor's hand, looking rather innocent and unassuming considering it weighed more than anything else on the planet. He didn't want to just leave it for anyone to wander over and examine, but he couldn't seem to come up with anything else.

Unless…

"Hey, you," He said, gesturing at the female SHIELD member. "Agent Sarova," Steve hissed from the corner of his mouth.

"Sarova, whatever. Come over here."

The woman – pardon, Sarova – glared but approached. "Yes?" She said in a tone that was hardly polite.

He had bigger things to worry about than an insulted SHIELD member. "Get Thor's hand around the hammer. Whatever you do, don't touch the handle."

She did so. Mjolnir did not spark, and it seemed like his hand moved a little bit as she did so. So far so good.

"Keep your hand there," He said warningly as she made to pull away. "Steve, get under his arm and lift when Sarova does. Carefully."

"But Mjolnir—" Steve tried to protest, but Tony cut him off. "Thor's still holding it, right? Let's see if he's still worthy while out cold. He got knocked out nobly and everything."

Steve shook his head but did so. Sarova and Steve carefully lifted up Thor's arm – and Mjolnir seemed fine with Thor's arm being used as a puppet. Amazing the steps they had to take to appease a hammer. An awesome hammer, it was true – but still, a freaking hammer. They shouldn't have to bother trying to keep it happy and non-heavy.

Once his arm was suspended and it didn't seem likely that Mjolnir was going to land on anybody, Tony helped lift Thor up. They awkwardly carried him to the jet and laid him on the stretcher. Once he was down, Sarova went outside and yelled, "Kieran! Finish and get up here now!"

Well, maybe they weren't so polite after all.

Agent Kieran came bearing a handful of the weird metal, a soil sample, and the coiled body of the dead snake. Tony was glad his mask was filtered – everyone's nose wrinkled when he carried the charred thing in. Sarova wordlessly offered him a bag to dump it in. After carefully putting aside the dirt and metal, he quickly put the body inside and stored it in the cargo bay. Everyone looked relieved when the latch closed. Burned snake brewed up a mighty stink, it seemed. He felt kind of bad for it, though. Whatever its crimes, Tony was sure it hadn't deserved to be burned to a crisp.

Tony looked back at the crater as Sarova took off. He had JARVIS use every filter and scanner he had, but he couldn't see the magical barrier that had been their downfall. The scanners registered energy in the area, nothing more. No obvious line at the edge of the crater, no concrete area that shouted, 'there's a magic spell here!' JARVIS could only say that magic had been used at some point in the general area. So helpful.

"JARVIS, take down all energy signatures that you can read. See if they match with anything we or SHIELD has ever come across before."

That would involve breaking into SHIELD's intelligence base again, but Tony could live with that.

"So what did you guys meet down there?" Agent Sarova asked as they sped back toward the mansion.

"Um…" Steve replied eloquently. "…We're not entirely sure."

"She was either Loki's lady friend or some new baddie," Tony replied. "But whoever she was, she's definitely related to whoever massacred everyone at the SHIELD base. She loved using that green laser of death."

"What do you mean, 'whoever'?" Agent Kieran asked from the co-pilot's seat. "That was Loki at SHIELD."

Why was everyone so certain of that? "Right, because Loki's obviously the only person in the entire universe interested in unlimited energy," Tony said. "Of course."

Steve turned to Tony. "What, you think it wasn't Loki?"

Hadn't he said that at least three times already? "No, I don't think it's Loki. Does any of this sound like Loki to you?" He was going to wait for the big reveal when had evidence and other such things, but screw it. "If anything Thor said was accurate, Loki should still be stuck on Asgard. Even if he somehow beamed himself here, he's not one to just kill everyone, grab what he wants, and get out. He loves the drama, Steve. He wants to see us squirm. Do you not remember the mess he left the first time he paid SHIELD a visit? Like I said, he's hardly a come, kill, leave kind of guy."

"So what, you think you know everything about him? His last plan didn't work out so well, Tony. So he changed tactic, tried something new. And so far, it looks like it's going pretty well for him this time."

It was a good point, but not enough. "Okay, fine. Let's get technical. It's still preliminary, but JARVIS hasn't caught a whiff of Loki's energy signature. Anywhere. Not at the SHIELD base –" He heard exclamations of surprise from the agents driving the plane, but ignored them. Of course Tony had collected all the information he could, by any means necessary. Really, it should just be expected by now. "And not here. Sure, Loki could have teamed up with someone new, but I don't think so. There's no big flashy army, no wormhole, no spectacular deaths and possessed people running around. Sure, that takes more effort, but why would he deny himself all the fun? I could be completely wrong," His tone stated clearly that he doubted that possibility, "But doesn't all of that seem a little strange to you?"

Steve crossed his arms and said nothing. He was obviously still set with his 'new battle plan' idea. Well, fine then. He didn't have to be on board yet, but Tony would convince him eventually, one way or another.

But having evidence would probably help matters.

The rest of the ride back to the mansion was a quiet one. Agent Sarova briefly spoke up to say they'd located Bruce, thankfully not the Hulk, in the middle of the woods – another jet was already en route to pick him up. So no worries there. Everything would have been okay – except for Thor. The thunder god remained as still as death in the back of the jet. Tony felt helpless – there was quite literally nothing he could do to rouse him, short of making a great deal of noise and seeing if that worked. But though it was tempting, he really doubted it would actually work. So Tony was left twiddling his mechanical thumbs and watching JARVIS run the energy scans. It was disheartening to see that through thousands upon thousands of references, he had yet to find a match. Still, for every thousand he compared the signatures to, there were still thousands more. They'd find a match eventually… or that's what Tony told himself, anyway.

When they landed in the mansion, Fury himself was waiting to greet them at the hangar doors. "We finally found a contact," He said with no prelude or trivial things like hellos. "Someone who might know what's going on here. Come with me." He walked off immediately, leaving Tony and Steve to follow.

Ah, no. This was not SHIELD HQ. "Uh, excuse me? This is my mansion here, Nick. I'll be doing the 'come with me,' if you please."

Fury turned around. "Take your ego down a couple notches, Stark," Fury snapped. " 'Your' mansion? You may own the building, but it is outfitted for SHIELD agents. So that makes it mine as well. Of course I know my way around - And I also know where the contact is. You don't. So shut up and follow me."

"Pissy cyclops," Tony muttered under his breath. He was going to have JARVIS program in some surprises for Fury next time he decided to visit. He was busy plotting when he noticed Steve's expression. The captain was turned away, but he was definitely hiding a smile.

"Something funny, Rogers?"

"I never thought I'd see you lose a war of words to Fury," Steve said, chortling. Swearing under his breath, Tony shouldered past Steve, accidentally knocking him into the wall in the process. "Information first, continuation of pissing contest after," Tony said over his shoulder.

"I heard that," Fury said from in front. Tony ignored him.

"So, who's the contact?" Steve asked, brushing drywall off his shoulder as he caught up. Fury kept walking as he talked.

"We sent out descriptions of the attack in the Tesseract room, trying to find a match, whether this has been seen on Earth before. We got a hit through the British prime minister. He patched us through to someone who promises to have all the information we need."

"And the catch?" Tony asked. Was this person a defector, or something? Would there have to be a tradeoff for the info?

"No catch." Tony snorted. "No catch," Fury repeated. "He checks out clean, so far. He wants him beaten as badly as we do."

"So, who is he?" Tony asked, wondering whether he knew him – and why, whether he knew him or not, he hadn't surfaced sooner.

Fury turned the corner and opened the door to the conference room.

"His name is Harry Potter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more to come, quite soon! A much more complete work of this is over on FF, but it is loong overdue to be here :O


End file.
